A MOTHBALLED regional fire control centre could eventually cost the taxpayer £36m, it has been claimed.

The North-East Fire Control Centre, in Belmont, near Durham City, was designed to bring together the fire services of County Durham, Teesside, Tyne and Wear and Northumberland.

The project was scrapped last year, but the building is costing the taxpayer £150,000-a-month and the Government is locked into a lease until 2027.

A Fire Brigades Union spokesman said the money was being wasted and could have been used to stop cuts in the fire service.

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said the regional fire control centres project had been scrapped because it was not delivering the service required.